The US and Israel are on the same page on how to resolve the situation in the Gaza Strip, and both countries are determined to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its influence in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, the 16th of February, as US President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, began a visit to the Middle East, reports Reuters.
Speaking after a meeting with Rubio in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said they discussed a number of issues, “none of which is more important than Iran”.
“Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder to confront the Iranian threat,” he said. “We agreed that the Ayatollahs must not have nuclear weapons, and we also agreed that Iranian aggression in the region must be prevented.”
“Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilising act, behind everything that threatens the peace and stability of millions of people who call this region home, stands Iran,” Rubio said.
The hostility between Israel and Iran spans decades and is linked to a history of secret wars and attacks by land, sea, air and cyberspace.
Iran claims to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, but supports groups calling themselves the Axis of Resistance, opposing Israeli and US influence. This axis includes Hamas, Hezbollah, the Yemeni Houthis and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria. Iran denies that it directly controls these groups and claims that they operate independently.
In the 16 months since the start of the Gaza war, Israel has killed several senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, and Israel and Iran have exchanged several retaliatory attacks.
Netanyahu said that Israel has dealt a “powerful blow” to Iran since the start of the war in Gaza and said that with Trump’s support “I have no doubt that we can and will finish the job”.
Netanyahu also said that he and Trump “are working in full cooperation and coordination. We have a common strategy” on Gaza to ensure that “Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel”,
before speaking of the “unequivocal support” of the US.
Netanyahu said he had spoken to Rubio about Trump’s “bold vision” for Gaza’s future and how to implement it. Earlier this month, Trump announced that the US would take over the Gaza Strip and turn it into a Riviera, displacing all Palestinians. Arab countries have already expressed their opposition to this proposal.
As Rubio said at the press conference, this idea needed “courage and vision”. “It may have shocked and surprised many, but what cannot continue is the same cycle.”
The previous evening, Israel received a shipment of MK-84 heavy bombs after Trump lifted a ban on their delivery imposed by the previous administration of President Joe Biden.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said he had lifted Biden’s block on bomb exports to Israel despite the ceasefire agreement because he believed in “peace through strength”, Trump adding that the bombs were in warehouses and “nobody knew what to do with them and they bought them”.
The Biden administration refused to sell them to Israel, fearing their impact on the densely populated areas of the Gaza Strip.
In the meantime, however, the White House is still working on extending the 42-day ceasefire into a second phase, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said, and the Israeli security cabinet will meet on Monday to discuss the issue.
In the first phase, Hamas agreed to release 33 Israeli hostages (19 hostages have been released so far, plus five Thais) in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli jails, while Israel agreed to withdraw its forces from some positions in Gaza.
Last week, Hamas announced that it would not release three prisoners, claiming that Israel was violating the terms of the ceasefire, but Israel threatened to resume hostilities in the Gaza Strip otherwise, denying the accusations. Hamas released the three hostages on Saturday, saying it did not want a resumption of hostilities.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killing 1 200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
More than 48 000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials. Much of the enclave has been devastated and most of the territory’s 2.3 million inhabitants, who lived there before the war, have been repeatedly displaced, according to humanitarian agencies.